steve is live for us in washington, with more on this. steve? >>reporter: the house speaker went for a white house for a one-on-one chat, the first time they have sat down without other leaders and it could represent an important step toward avoiding the fiscal cliff. the last time the 39 and the speaker met was with other members of congress november 15. they talked wednesday last week but that was a conversation by telephone. now they have sat down face to face. this top level meeting is important in any negotiating process in washington, dc. the fact they met on a sunday underscores the urgency. the white house confirmed the talks were held to discuss efforts to resolve the fiscal cliff and lines of communication remain open. the white house beating is the same day republicans appeared to be moving closer to the president's position on raising taxes for the wealthy. a senator appeared on fox news sunday along with a democrat schumer. >> the growing group of thugs are realizing they don't have a lot of cards related to tax issues. people are p